Family speaks about fatality in hit-and-run

Luke Loiselle, who has pleaded guilty in the hit-and-run that killed David Miller of Highgate in 2015, listens while Miller's family speaks of their loss in court on Tuesday.

ST. ALBANS CITY — A Franklin County Superior Court judge has postponed sentencing Luke Loiselle, 31, who pleaded guilty in connection with a hit-and-run on Route 78 that took the life of 54-year-old David Miller, of Highgate, in Dec. 2015.

Loiselle has pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal crash and obstructing justice. He was to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon. Per his plea agreement, Loiselle could be sentenced to two to 21 years, which he would concurrently serve with a pre-existing burglary sentence.

Judge A. Gregory Rainville ordered the Department of Corrections to conduct a pre-sentence investigation, looking at Loiselle’s history and interviewing Miller’s family to determine whether Loiselle’s sentence should be harsher or more lenient.

That order followed statements made in court yesterday by Miller’s family. Those statements prompted Loiselle’s attorney, Mark Kaplan, and state prosecutor Heather Brochu to approach Rainville at the bench. Rainville ordered a 10-minute recess, after which he announced sentencing is postponed.

“There was an understanding when this plea was taken that the parties were satisfied with this sentence,” Rainville said. “This is clearly not the case.”

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